The Web of Fear

The Web of Fear is the partly missing fifth serial of the fifth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 3 February to 9 March 1968. This serial — which marks the return of the Yeti, the Great Intelligence, and Professor Edward Travers — is the sequel to The Abominable Snowmen. It marks the first appearance of Colonel Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, subsequently better known as the Brigadier, and acts as a precursor to the numerous later serials involving the UNIT organisation.

Currently, five of the six episodes are held in the BBC archives. For four decades only episode 1 of the story survived in the BBC archives, the others being presumed lost. Episodes 2, 4, 5, and 6 were recovered from Nigeria in 2013, however, leaving only episode 3 missing.

Plot

Approximately 40 years after his Tibetan expedition in The Abominable Snowmen, an elderly Professor Travers reactivates a control sphere during his studies. The sphere inserts into an intact robot yeti from Tibet at a private collection in London and escapes. In the following days, London is beset by thick fog and a deadly web-like fungus begins to infest the London Underground. Professor Travers is brought to the Second World War deep-level shelter under Goodge Street tube station, where his daughter Anne has asked for his help to defeat the menace affecting the tube system. Also present are Captain Knight, the current leader of the military manning HQ, Staff-Sergeant Arnold, who acts as Knight's deputy and Harold Chorley, the only journalist allowed to report on the crisis.